


Hope Finds Its Way

by AngelZash



Series: Stony Bingo [1]
Category: Avengers Assemble (Cartoon), The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: M/M, Presumed Dead, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug, Stony Bingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-29
Updated: 2016-02-29
Packaged: 2018-05-23 21:04:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6130012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelZash/pseuds/AngelZash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There aren't any ghosts here, but Steve feels the Tower to be haunted anyway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hope Finds Its Way

**Author's Note:**

> The prompt was S-4 Presumed Dead.

It had been three months, but the hallways still seemed empty to Steve. The rooms still seemed dark, and the table and sofa always looked to be missing something—someone. Steve wasn’t sure why since none of these places were the places Steve would most often find him in, but everywhere in the Tower just seemed…hollow in some way Steve couldn’t begin to articulate. 

The communicators and phones all seemed wrong as well. Steve couldn’t use them to contact him now. And when he tried…All Steve got was a voicemail at best. There was no one left to answer now—just the haunted, pained edges of Steve’s own memory. 

Tony Stark was gone, dead, and there was nothing Steve could do about it. 

It had been worse at the beginning. Then they had told him that it would pass. Those places would begin to fill in and the missing bits of Steve’s heart and mind would fill in and heal over. Now, at this point, Steve was pretty sure they wouldn’t. 

This wasn’t like the last time, when he’d woken up in the twenty-first century to discover everyone and everything he'd ever known was dead or lost to him through time. Then, he’d had the city itself to remind him of everything he’d lost, but he’d also had Tony and the other Avengers to help him find his way. He’d been able to make new memories in the city he’d loved his entire life. Now even those memories were turning on him. 

No matter where Steve looked these days, there was some reminder of Tony waiting to slap him in the face. At some point in the first month, the team had removed the little trinkets and signs of Tony’s existence that had been left scattered around the Tower, but it hadn’t helped. 

Steve still looked at the sofa and remembered how they’d always shared it whenever they were both in the room. Steve would read his books—history, art, or just regular literature—while Tony would turn and rest curled up against the back with his feet tucked under Steve’s thighs as he worked on his tablet. 

Steve still looked at the kitchen island and saw an image of Tony slumped over a half-full cup of coffee. Tony would always look mostly asleep, despite it probably being his third cup, but he’d always sit up and eat when Steve placed a plate of breakfast in front of him. He’d never fail to give Steve a smile of thanks before tucking in. 

And Steve still stood in front of the door to Tony’s workshop and tried to not be convinced that if he just went in he’d find Tony tinkering away at something. Tony would always stop to give him a grin and ask what Steve needed. It had never mattered how busy Tony was or how urgent the project, if Steve had needed something, Tony had been there. 

Maybe that’s why it was so hard to let go now. Steve hadn’t even realized just how dependent he’d been on Tony always being there, always being…Tony. Perhaps it would’ve helped if there’d been a body to mourn over and bury, but he doubted it. He doubted that anything would have helped at this point. Steve simply hadn’t known the depths of his own feelings until they’d told him Tony wasn’t coming home.

When had Steve fallen in love? And why was he only just now figuring it out? When he couldn’t do anything about it?

Steve stalked down the hall, ignoring the feeling that it was emptier than it was. The other Avengers were all somewhere in residence; it shouldn’t have felt so utterly desolate. He slowed as he came up on the door to the main workshop Tony worked in. Had worked in. 

Staring at the closed door, Steve considered going in. He hadn’t since before Tony had… But maybe it would help if he did. Maybe he could see that one final empty space and finally believe Tony was gone. 

Or maybe Steve’s heart would simply finish breaking. 

With a sigh, he leaned forward and rested his forehead against the surface of the door. There was a _swish_ and the door disappeared from beneath Steve’s weight. He over balanced and desperately threw out a hand to catch himself. He did just barely, and he stumbled into the room. 

Frantically, Steve looked around the room, truly expecting to hear Tony laughing at him for his lack of grace. The silence was absolute and heart wrenching. Steve sank down to his knees as he felt his heart finish its painful breaking in his chest. 

Would it be so bad if he let himself cry here, in Tony’s sanctum?

“Captain,” a voice prodded at him for his attention. “Captain, are you alright?”

Sighing again, Steve swallowed back his tears and nodded. “I’m fine, Jarvis,” he said, his voice hoarse. “I didn’t mean to disturb…” Steve swallowed and blinked back more sudden tears, “…disturb you.”

“I opened the door for you,” Jarvis told him. “I apologize if I startled you.”

“No,” Steve shook his head and took a deep, steadying breath, “it’s alright. Did you need something?”

“I believe I found something you would be interested in,” Jarvis told him. Light flooded the room and Steve looked up to see a map on the large screen of Tony’s computer. A small red light was blinking on it over the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. 

“What is that?” Standing, Steve marched forward to study the map more closely. He’d always been good at pushing aside his emotions for his duty and he was thankful to be able to do it again. 

“That is a signal that Sir programmed into the infrastructure of the newest component of his last Iron Man armor,” Jarvis said. “I detected it just an hour ago and have now verified its authenticity.” 

Momentary hope shot through Steve, leaving a new agonizing pain in its wake. The armor could theoretically function without Tony; it simply would take someone very skilled with technology to bypass the safeguards to get it working. 

“Someone found his suit,” Steve growled out, less a question than a means of letting the idea settle into his brain. 

“Perhaps,” Jarvis said. “But this component was embedded in Sir’s muscles, coded to his DNA, and designed to only function if Sir functioned.”

Disbelief hit Steve, stealing his breath from him. He gaped at the blinking dot on the map for a few minutes before managing, “Are you saying…” 

“I believe Master Tony is alive,” Jarvis stated. 

Relief and hope warred inside Steve for a short time and he let himself flop bonelessly into the nearby computer chair. Then logic intruded and Steve screwed his eyes shut against the fear it engendered.

“Where has he been then? It’s been three months. Why haven’t we detected the signal before now if he’s still alive?”

“Uncertain,” Jarvis said. “Perhaps there was interference with the signal that prevented its detection until now. However, the fact remains that this signal would only be given off if Sir was in fact alive, and not deceased as was previously assumed.”

Releasing a painful breath, Steve nodded and sat up, his body already going tense in preparation for the task at hand. “Find out everything you can about that signal, Jarvis. And tell the rest of the team to meet in the conference room in ten.”

“I have contacted the other Avengers, Captain,” Jarvis said. “The information you requested will be sent to the conference room as well.”

“Thank you, Jarvis,” Steve said as he stood up. “I’ll bring home Tony soon.” 

“Please do,” Jarvis replied. “And may I say good luck?”

“You may,” Steve said, turning and heading for the door. He felt suddenly powerful and ready to take on the world, and his long, steady strides reflected it. “But I’ll be bring him home anyway.”

The door shut behind him with another _swish_ , but Steve barely noticed it. He didn’t even notice how cavernous the Tower was now. After all, Tony would be filling all those empty spaces again soon.

**Author's Note:**

> I really should've been working on my papers, or at least the half finished prompt I'm doing for kink meme, but this just poked me until I had to write it. XD Hope everyone enjoyed!


End file.
